Medieval Sculpture (c.300-1000)From Late Antiquity to Romanesque

"Medieval" and "Middle Ages"
are rather imprecise terms which refer to the period of European history
from the fall of the Roman Empire in the West (c.400 CE) to the fall of
Constantinople (1453). This article on medieval sculpture
broadly covers the first 600 years of this era, including the work of
sculptors from the final period of Late Antiquity until the emergence
of the European style known as Romanesque
Art (1000-1200). See also our article on Medieval
Christian Art (600-1200) as well as our biographies of outstanding
medieval artists
such as Gislebertus (12th century), Master
Mateo (12th century) and the Master
of Cabestany (c.1130-1180).

Forming the link between Christianity and
the classical heritage, the civilization of Late Antiquity occupied a
place between the Late Roman Empire and the Middle Ages. This period began
with the long reigns of Diocletian (284-305) and Constantine (307-337)
and lasted for two or three centuries, its duration varying from region
to region. After Diocletian had established a tetrarchic government with
two "Augusti" and two "Caesars", the system became
a diarchy in 313 and then, in 324, Constantine, the conqueror of Licinius,
united the Empire under Christianity. This religious liberty was soon
expressed in monumental Christian art
with the construction of the oldest Christian basilicas and the introduction
of the first monumental decorations. In the towns, the municipal elites
and the big proprietors, who often owned country residences, decorated
their houses sumptuously. Public architecture strove to surpass the models
of the past. The Basilica Nova in Rome was begun by Maxentius in 308 and
completed by Constantine. Its three monumental aisles stood at the summit
of a wide platform and were crowned by a vast western apse containing
a colossal statue of the emperor.

HISTORY OF SCULPTURE
For a guide to the origins and
development of 3-D art, including
major achitectural movements,
see: Sculpture History.

A manifestation of the city's pomp, the
triumphal arch of Constantine built by the Senate and the people of Rome
in 315 stands near the Palatine Hill. The monument comprises three openings
with freestanding columns outside and a group of sculptures, including
reused features from earlier famous monuments, as if to contirm the imperial
heritage. The historical frieze, in a conspicuous position halfway up,
illustrates both the imperial ideology and the style of the Constantinian
period. In addition to depictions of speeches to the citizens and the
distribution of subsidies, a particularly noticeable feature is the setting
of a hieratic court ritual in which the emperor occupies a strictly frontal
position. This arrangement, emphasized by the acclaiming figures shown
in profile, was adopted by consuls on ivory diptychs, by villa owners
on mosaics, and even for the representation of Christ among the apostles
in the semidomes of church apses.

A style common to sculpture and the arts
of colour emerges during the first half of the fourth century. That is
why the extremely linear and graphic rendering of the figures in the frieze
on the Arch of Constantine and on contemporary sarcophagi is close to
that of the figures on the mosaics of Piazza Armerina in Sicily, Santa
Costanza in Rome, Aquileia in North Italy and Centcelles near Tarragona
in Catalonia. The basic elements of the portrait, with wide open eyes
and short hair accentuating the roundness of the head, are already observable
in works produced under the Tetrarchy, the most famous of which is the
porphyry group of the four sovereigns, reused in the Middle Ages on the
lateral facade of the basilica of St Mark's in Venice.

Early Christian
Sculpture

During the Roman Imperial period, the Christianization
of society steadily increased, but we have to wait until Late Antiquity,
in particular the fourth century, to see the public expression of the
early Christian sculpture - at least
in Rome. The first Christian images appeared in the Roman catacombs, those
underground cemeteries with evocative names (Calixtus, Priscilla, Peter
and Marcellinus), which, situated outside the city of the living. were
the Roman equivalent of the surface necropolises located close to the
entrances of the Empire's towns. We know those early Christian images,
as well as the tastes and culture of the urban elites, from the sculptured
decoration of the sarcophagi which were placed in mausoleums or private
enclosures inside cemeteries. (See also: Christian
Roman Art.)

When they were carved out of marble or
porphyry, sarcophagi were ornamented with a sculptured decoration comparable
in every way to the friezes of the great public monuments. These characteristic
objects of Late Antiquity were sometimes "mass produced" and
could be bought as standardized products by anyone who wanted to perpetuate
his own memory in his lifetime or that of a close relation who had just
died, as an inscription at Arles testifies: "The 17 of the Calends
of April, here rests in peace Marcia Romania Celsa, a most illustrious
lady, who lived 38 years, 2 months and 11 days. Havius Januarius, a most
illustrious man, former consul ordinary, placed (this epitaph) to his
meritorious wife." It was also possible to have sarcophagi decorated
to meet individual requirements. In the second quarter of the 4th century
Flavius Januarius ordered that his defunct wife should be portrayed as
the praying figure situated in the centre of the main face of the sarcophagus
between two apostles and Gospel scenes.

The sarcophagus relief sculpture comprises several
different types: with spiral flutings, with a continuous frieze, on two
registers, with colonnettes, etc. Pictorially, the large bucolic and pastoral
scenes were soon followed by Old Testament scenes (Jonas, Daniel) in typological
opposition to those from the New Testament such as the public life of
Christ and the early events of his Passion. The death of Christ is never
represented; on the other hand, emphasis is laid on his resurrection,
his victory over death and the promise of his return at the end of time.

Among the most significant examples, we may mention the porphyry sarcophagi
of Helen and Constantine (Vatican Museum) which, between 320 and 340,
display themes peculiar to the imperial iconography or the decoration
of the richest villas, such as the sarcophagus decorated with hunting
scenes discovered in the Trinquetaille necropolis at Arles in 1974. Of
the same provenance, a sarcophagus with two registers depicting an illustrious
couple is very similar to the so-called Dogmatic Sarcophagus (Vatican
Museum). In addition to Old Testament episodes (Adam and Eve), it displays
scenes from the New Testament, ranging from the Epiphany to Christ's miracles.
These vehicles of private propaganda tell us about the very early conversion
of certain elites and also about their tastes, because the Aries sarcophagus
was undoubtedly bought in Rome at great expense. The sarcophagus of Junius
Bassus is a particularly good illustration of the monumental quality of
these works and the concentration of Christian thought they convey.

From the early 5th century, the arrival in the West of different Germanic
peoples and their settlement in the territories of the ancient Roman empire
brought in their train the introduction of an original culture with a
Roman and a Germanic component. The first inroad took place in 401, when
the Visigoths led by Alaric poured into Italy. After their arrival at
the gates of Rome, this people, led by Athaulf, withdrew to southern Gaul
in 412. A little earlier, at the end of 406, the Vandals, Alani and Suevi
crossed the Rhine at Mainz or Worms and took the road to the Iberian peninsula.
The history of these peoples' movements, their conquests and progressive
sedentarization covered the whole of the 5th century. Their final settlement
in specific regions constituted the first adumbration of medieval historical
geography. The Franks in Gaul, the Visigoths in the Iberian peninsula
and the Ostrogoths in Italy produced original works of art confined almost
exclusively to metalwork and goldsmithery.
Architecturally, they appreciated what they found in the Romanized countries.
This is why, while necropolises yield funerary furnishings of Germanic
origin, the villas excavated by archeologists reveal architecture and
mosaic art in the purest Roman tradition,
some of which are even later than the 7th century. The symbiosis between
these different artistic cultures laid the basis of the new medieval civilization.

The goldsmith's works of the period of the barbarian invasions were numerous.
They consisted of liturgical objects, tableware, weapons and personal
ornaments. Well known is the work of St Eligius, goldsmith of the Merovingian
court and maker of liturgical objects, such as the Cross of Saint-Denis.
But the goldsmithing of this period
is mainly studied with the help of burial finds. The Sutton Hoo treasure
is the most famous of the royal or princely burials of the early Anglo-Saxon
period discovered in England. Its contents, now in the British
Museum, were exhumed from the interior of a buried ship in 1939. The
objects composing this treasure included imports from the eastern Mediterranean
(silver and bronze dishes), Sweden (shield), Merovingian Gaul (coins)
and the Rhineland (armour). The date of interment is established by Byzantine
objects made of silver on which the inspection stamps of Emperor Anastasius
have been identified.

The Anglo-Saxon artifacts in the treasure from the Sutton Hoo Ship Burial
consist mainly of arms, jewels and objects of everyday use. Gold is abundant
and the enamelling - mostly
cloisonné - is distributed
in small differently coloured cells which articulate the surface. But
while emphasizing technique, we should not neglect the decorative repertory
that appears on contemporary products. Geometric forms and figurative
decoration are closely fused in a tangle of curves which often describe
continuous interlaces. These motifs then spread over western Europe through
the circulation of artifacts and manuscripts.

In Merovingian Gaul these goldsmith's works were found in the tombs of
the wealthiest individuals. Some of them still preferred burial in sarcophagi
in the classical tradition. Sometimes these were local products, carved
in the stone of the country, at others imports brought by way of the large
rivers (Seine, Loire). Often trapezoid in shape, these sarcophagi, which
went out of use during the 8th century, were adorned with crosses or geometric
motifs. The plaster sarcophagi found in great quantities in the Paris
region made up a special group and their area of diffusion extended from
Rouen to the Yonne and from the Loiret to the Marne. In the south of France
the production of marble sarcophagi was prolonged until the 5th century,
if not later, while in Aquitaine in particular a group of sarcophagi with
saddleback covers and an all-over decoration of foliage scrolls certainly
continued in production until the end of the Merovingian period. These
prestigious objects travelled but their carving was probably executed
in the urban workshops of Aquitaine in connection with the exploitation
of quarries. They met the demands of the great landowners of southwestem
Gaul for whom hunting was still a favourite activity, as the sacrophagus
in the Musee des Augustins at Toulouse demonstrates.

Among the privileged tombs is the funerary chapel discovered to the south-east
of the town of Poitiers in 1878, the sculptured decuration of which is
especially important. This hypogeum, know as the Hypogee des Dunes, consisted
of a "memorial chamber" provided with cult installations and
it stood in a necropolis. The monument, which can be dated to the late
7th or the first third of the 8th century, was a sort of family vault
containing several tombs; a lengthy inscription in the righthand door
jamb states: "Here Mellebaudis, debtor and servant of Christ, I have
set up for myself this little cavern in which my unworthy tomb reposes.
I did this in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ whom I have loved, in
whom I have believed ... "

Access to the vault is by a staircase with about ten steps. The monument
consists of a room enlarged by two lateral arcosolia. In addition to the
colonnettes and capitals framing the entrance, the architectural sculpture
extends over three steps of the staircase, the two door jambs and the
step which raises the altar platform. This decoration in very shallow
relief consists of omamental foliage, fish and a four-stranded plait with
snakes' heads at the extremities. The monument also preserves elements
of carved furniture which prove the existence of well-organized workshops.
Winged figures adorn the slabs reused to close the sarcophagi standing
near the altar. One of them bears the symbols of the evangelists Matthew
and John and the archangels Raphael and Rachel. Near the altar was the
sculpted base of a pillar adorned with two figures nailed to crosses who
could be interpreted as the two thieves framing the crucifixion of Christ,
now missing. Another sculptured fragment represents the lower part of
a stylite identified as Simeon by an inscription.

Stylistically these sculptures resemble
7th century Visigothic works and monuments in northern Italy. Sociologically,
the Hypogeum of the Dunes at Poitiers illustrates the phenomenon of the
"aristocratization" of a section of a necropolis: a privileged
ecclesiastical tomb which may have been a chapel originally and in any
case was in private use. Indeed, a fragment of the lintel bears the following
inscription: "The memory of Mellebaudis (memoria), Abbot, debtor
of Christ, is here. The devout come from all sides to Him (Christ) for
the offerings, and they return every year." The sculptured decoration
in the Poitiers hypogeum shows, as do the lettering of the inscriptions
and the vestiges of painting, that the Merovingian elites had a hybrid
culture combining classical culture fostered by eastern elements and the
art of interlaces which so clearly defines the plastic innovations of
the early Middle Ages in the West.

Carolingian
Art: Ivory and Goldsmithery

The Carolingian cultural renaissance was not produced suddenly, neither
with Charlemagne's coming to power nor with his coronation by the Pope
in the year 800. It had been prepared from the late 7th century in Italy,
Gaul and the British Isles. From this period onward the monastic renewal
of the West was under way. Corbie, Laon, Tours, Fleury-sur-Loire and Saint-Denis
were cultural centres long before the Carolingian renaissance, famous
for their scriptoria and their libraries, as were the Germanic abbeys
of Echternach, St Gall and Fulda. (See: German
Medieval Art c.800-1250.) The reigns of Charlemagne and his son Louis
the Pious (from 768 to 855) saw the construction of hundreds of monasteries,
nearly thirty new cathedrals and close to a hundred royal residences.
See Carolingian Art
(c.750-900).

The desire to vie with the prestige of Rome and Byzantium
was behind Charlemagne's decision to choose a permanent residence in which
to install his court, treasury and library. The palace of Charlemagne
at Aachen and the palatine chapel built there on the Ravennate model at
the very end of the 8th and beginning of the 9th century formed a centre
for religious art and for the study
of letters which welcomed celebrated masters such as Alcuin. The court
workshops produced illuminated
manuscripts which were one of the most effective aids to the preservation
of antique culture and the diffusion of contemporary artistic tastes.
Among the first books illuminated at the court before the end of the 8th
century was the Gospel Book of Godescalc, which reveals the growing importance
of Italian and Byzantine models. The manuscripts of the Ada school, from
the name of an abbess alleged to be Charlemagne's natural sister, marked
a moment of diversification in the Palatine schools corresponding to Alcuin's
succession by Eginhard.

Among the new artistic tendencies under Louis the Pious, the Coronation
Gospels (Old Imperial Treasury, Vienna) introduced a Hellenistic or Alexandrian
style. At Reims, under Archbishop Ebbo, manuscripts were illustrated in
a style dominated by a movement which seems to shake the figures and their
clothes. The Utrecht Psalter, written and illustrated at the abbey of
Hautvilliers at the end of the first third of the 9th century, particularly
characterizes this Carolingian renaissance and the school of Reims by
its rapid, incisive, vibrant and nervous pen. After the death of Charlemagne
and the fall of Ebbo at Reims, several artists revived the school of Saint-Martin
of Tours characterized under Abbot Vivian (843-851) by the illustration
of Bibles with narrative scenes arranged in superimposed registers.

The production of manuscripts created in the various specialized workshops
a demand for work by the goldsmiths and craftsmen specialized in ivory
carving, mainly to ornament precious bindings. This explains the close
stylistic relation between illustrated manuscripts and ivory carvings.
It has even been suggested that workshops were equipped to produce both
genres. Thus the ivories of the Ada school are closely akin to manuscripts
from the same circle. The Lorsch Gospel covers executed at the very end
of the 8th century derive from Byzantine models from the period of Justinian,
whereas the covers of Dagulfs Psalter find their source in Western Early
Christian works. This wealth of sources also proves the role fulfilled
by these workshops in the transmission of models from Late Antiquity.
At Metz, under the episcopate of Drogo (825-855), ivory panels (Drago
Sacramentary) reflected the movement animating the manuscripts of the
same school in which contrasts with the school of Reims can be seen.

Under Charles the Bald, the workshops of
Corbie, Reims and Saint-Denis were particularly active and had more stylistic
affinity with the Reims manuscripts. The cover of the Psalter of Charles
the Bald (Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris) is especially reminiscent of
the interpretation the ivory-carvers made of the manuscript illustrations.
In this case, the model is the Utrecht Psalter. The Munich Crucifixion,
with its representation of the Resurrection beneath personifications of
the sun and moon, and its antique references to Oceanus and Roma, may
well be the masterpiece of this period. This ivory cover is luxuriously
framed by a setting of goldwork, precious stones and enamels which invite
us once again to speculate about the collaboration between ivory carvers
and goldsmiths in these outstanding workshops. (For more, see also: Celtic
Metalwork art.)

The development of the cult of relics and
the increasing size of the main churches were the source of the luxurious
output of goldsmith's work in the Carolingian period: urns, various types
of statue, reliquaries of all kinds, book covers
and other objects for liturgical use made up the essential part of a production
destined to play an important role in the development of monumental sculpture.
We find a good example of this in the reliquary called the Triumphal Arch
of Eginhard known only from a drawing. It undoubtedly served as the foot
of a cross and its rich decoration finds its inspiration in Roman and
Early Christian triumphal programs, while at the same time heralding the
monumental iconographic display of the great Romanesque church portals.

Carolingian gold work benefited by the
progress made in the Merovingian period and combined the ancient practice
of cloisonne with that of chasing and inlays. Among the most famous works
are the binding of the Codex Aureus of Munich, with a decoration divided
into five fields, and the ciborium of King Arnulf. Also outstanding for
size, prestige and influence on sculpture is the gold and silver altar
frontal of Milan, commissioned from the goldsmith Volvinius under the
episcopate of Angilbert II. It has christological scenes on the front,
while the back is reserved for the life of Ambrose, the Milanese saint.
The differences in style observable between the two sides exactly match
the situation of Carolingian art torn between a dazzling Antiquity and
a new aesthetic. The bronze sculpture or statuette
"Charlemagne" (Louvre, Paris)
clearly suggests this double dimension affirming the imperial idea. It
is a reflection of the activity of the bronze-founders' workshops which
have left other famous works in the Aachen chapel. such as the grilles
of the galleries and the doors. See also: Ottonian
Art (c.900-1050).

For another influential but later school
of medieval art in Western
Europe, which was greatly influenced by Carolingian culture, please see
Mosan Art which emerged
around Liege, exemplified by the metalwork and goldsmithing of Nicholas
of Verdun (1156-1232) and Godefroid
de Claire (1100-1173).

REFERENCES
We gratefully acknowledge the use of material from the seminal work on
European Sculpture from Late Antiquity to the pre-Renaissance era, namely
Sculpture: From Antiquity to the Middle Ages, Edited by G. Duby and J-L
Daval (1989-91) (published by Taschen GmbH), a publication we strongly
recommend for any serious students of Medieval sculpture and architecture.